Steve Hess is one of a number of Nuggets staffers that received new, enhanced titles on Friday. He is now Director of Performance/Assistant Coach and Head Strength and Conditioning Coach (Photo by John Leyba/The Denver Post)

The Nuggets announced a number of staff adjustments on Friday, starting with a promotion of longtime scout Herb Livsey to Lead Scout.

Livsey has been with the Nuggets since the 2008-09 season, coming to the team from the Atlanta Hawks. He also worked for the Portland Trailblazers.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find someone more dedicated and knowledgeable about the game of basketball,” said Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly in a statement. “Herb is one of the most well respected scouts in all of basketball and our organization is very fortunate to continue to have him as a resource.”

His promotion opens the door for additions to the team’s scouting ranks if the Nuggets so choose. Under Connelly, the Nuggets have been known to have one of the best scouting staffs in the NBA.

Title changes begin with assistant general manager Arturas Karnisovas, who adds on to that with vice president of basketball operations. Karnisovas, widely considered one of the bright executive minds in the league, was courted by the Brooklyn Nets during the regular season for their then-open general manager job.

Tommy Balcetis goes from Manager of Analytics to Director of Analytics. He been with the Nuggets since 2013. Scott Howard is now the Nuggets Director of College Scouting.

Jared Jeffries moves from Pro Personnel Scout to Director of Pro Personnel. He’s been with the Nuggets since 2013 after playing 11 years in the NBA.

Steve Hess is now titled Director of Performance/Assistant Coach and Head Strength and Conditioning coach. Hess is one of the team’s longest-tenured staffers, having just finished his 19th season with the Nuggets.

Hess’ right hand man, Felipe Eichenberger, is now Associate Head Strength and Conditioning coach, a change from Assistant Strength and Conditioning coach, the previous title he’s held since joining the team in 2011.

Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com

Since Connelly described virtually everyone in his post season take on the team as ‘fantastic,’ I’ll take these changes with a huge grain of salt. Doesn’t he understand that when a team has been garbage for 3 years and in a number of respects even worse garbage this year than before, you’re not entitled to use the word ‘fantastic.’ Humility and Reality, Tim. I know you can do it. You’d be better served to drop the BS and the silly spin.

wordcat

No intent to disparage any of the fine people that got promotions with the Nuggets. Full on intent to question the FO after the dumpster fire of the past three years.

Video

Oh boy, we’re on our way up now! Geez, maybe lure Kobe out of retirement now as well. They will still be developing two years from now.

wordcat

Dempsey is delusional about the Nuggets. Or, more likely, on the payroll in one way or another or just trying to protect his job. He argued in his latest take on the Nuggets future that the Nuggets are ‘in a comfortable space.’ Uh, WTF? The team stinks. I don’t even know how to respond to that kind of full on Lap Dog, Step and Fetch It stuff. Come on, Chris, you can do better. Take a risk in your life as a journalist. Most everyone will think better of you if you do.

wordcat

Specifically in terms of Steve Hess, I can’t think of a team that has had more injuries more often than the Nuggets over the past years. I’m puzzled why a training staff that has produced such truly poor results would get promotions. But of course Hess speaks in a foreign accent and acts like an entertaining hyperactive 10 year old, so I guess the owners of the Nuggets appreciate that kind of pure bullshit and spin. Full respect for Hess. When you do a consistently poor job but get rewarded you’re brighter by far than your employer.

wordcat

Took a look at the ‘Advanced Stats’ take Dempsey attempted re Gallo. Congrats to the Post for joining the current NBA fan world–about 5 years too late, but welcome nonetheless. Overall, I don’t have much to quibble with here re Gallo. From a stats pov, other than Jokic, he was the best and most efficient player on a team that stunk by both traditional and advanced stats. Of course, he was a lousy defender by those numbers, but the Nuggets were terrible defensively by every traditional and advanced stat so he was just one among many poor defenders on the team and less to blame than most. Nuggets fans that don’t follow the game as closely as I do may be shocked at how bad some of the young Nuggets players that supposedly will lead the franchise into ‘glory days’ graded out statistically. I was annoyed a little bit by Dempsey’s cherry picking of stats re Gallo–he never really gave us the bottom line or most relevant general stats. But again, anything that advances the typically dumb fan responses here and at other threads is welcome. Having said that, I’ve got the detailed numbers on the whole team from a wide variety of advanced stat sources, Chris, so tell the truth. I’ll hold you to that over the next few months. No more bullshit from you or the Kroenkes.

wordcat

Am I going to be forced to make all my takes on Dempsey’s statistical breakdowns of the Nuggets on this article in the underground about Hess? Be fair, in a way that Dempsey and the Post and the Nuggets FO have rarely been fair to fans. OK, to Dempsey’s take on Mudiay. Technically honest. Not honest because it didn’t summarize Mudiay’s truly poor and concerning stats. Here’s the reality, from more than just Synergy Stats (Chris, you’re also pretty lax for someone getting paid to be a ‘reporter’). I preface my comments by repeating once again that the Nuggets FO put him in an impossible situation because they wanted to sell more tickets to dimwits. I truly appreciated that Dempsey, really for one of the few times all year, alluded to that fact. Where do I start re Mudiay’s actual numbers? By wins, win shares, real plus minus, player efficiency rating, defensive efficiency, etc. etc.–general stats that even people though don’t get stats can understand, Mudiay was in the bottom 10 percent of the league. Bottom 10%. Let me repeat. Bottom 10% of the league. In spite of his thoroughly ineffective play he put up a few traditional stats only because the Nuggets ridiculously forced him to play 30 minutes a game without mentoring by a better player or time to learn the game. Translation? He was one of the least efficient and effective players in the league. Or in other words, terrible. Re the Nuggets problems on defense, well, Mudiay and Harris were among the very worst defensive players in the league. The young starting back court that will supposedly lead the team into the future–according to Dempsey’s drivel–are just truly bad defensive players. Mike Malone was hired because he was supposedly a defensive guru, but the team finished in the bottom 6 defensive teams in the league. Just a small start to the stats and reality I’ll be breaking down here instead of the BS fans here get fed every day when there is any actual coverage of the team.

wordcat

Give intelligent fans a chance here instead of taking up room with mediocrities that get paid by the Nuggets one way or the other.

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.